Chapter VII (6)

[1735] The ancient Alsium occupied the site of the place now called Statua; below it are the vestiges of the Portus Alsiensis, at the embouchure of the Rio-Cupino, a little to the east of Palo.

[1736] Torre Macarese.

[1737] The Roman Lucina, in later times identical with Diana.

[1738] About the year 384 before the Christian era.

[1739] Corsica.

[1740] Arezzo.

[1741] Perugia.

[1742] Bolsena.

[1743] Sutri.

[1744] Bieda.

[1745] The French translation understands this to be the modern Ferenti, near Viterbo.

[1746] Sta. Maria di Falari.

[1747] Probably another name for Falerium.

[1748] Nepi.

[1749] Castro, or Farnese, near Lake Mezzano.

[1750] This ancient city was probably situated near the Isola Farnesia, about the place where Storta now stands.

[1751] Fidenæ was situated on the left bank of the Tiber, near its confluence with the Anio, now the Teverone, 40 stadia from Rome. The ruins are near the villages Giubileo and Serpentina.

[1752] _Hodie_ Otricoli: the ancient town was situated nearer the Tiber than the modern.

[1753] Monte di S. Silvestro.

[1754] Arezzo.

[1755] Chiusi.

[1756] Perugia.

[1757] Tyrrhenia.

[1758] An aquatic plant, perhaps the Typha of Linnæus, used in making lamp-wicks, and for other purposes to which tow was applied.

[1759] The downy substance growing on the flowering reed.

[1760] The Lago di Vico _or_ di Ronciglione.

[1761] Lago di Bolsena.

[1762] Now only marshes.

[1763] Lago di Bracciano.

[1764] All MSS. are corrupt at this word. It is now called Lago di Perugia.

[1765] Rimini.

[1766] Sinigaglia.

[1767] Apparently an interpolation; vide Kramer’s edition, vol. i. p. 358, _n._

[1768] The Æsis.

[1769] Sentina.

[1770] Fano.

[1771] Umbria.

[1772] Otricoli.

[1773] No such city as this is mentioned in any other writer; the word as it now stands is evidently corrupt.

[1774] Narni.

[1775] The ancient Nar.

[1776] Bevagna.

[1777] Mevania stood at the junction of the Tinia (now Timia) and the Topino.

[1778] Forfiamma, or Ponte-Centesimo, or the village of Vescia.

[1779] Nocera Camellaria.

[1780] Fossembruno.

[1781] Terni.

[1782] Spoleto.

[1783] Between Spoleto and Camerino.

[1784] The left side of the Via Flaminia.

[1785] Amelia.

[1786] Todi.

[1787] Hispello.

[1788] Eugubbio, or Gubbio, where the celebrated inscriptions were found in 1440.

[1789] Ζειὰ.

[1790] Sabina and Latium.

[1791] Probably Lamentana Vecchia.

[1792] Groskurd considers this to be Amatrice.

[1793] Rieti.

[1794] Interdoco, between Rieti and Aquila.

[1795] Civita Tommassa, or rather Forcella.

[1796] Monte Leone della Sabina.

[1797] Chaupy considers this to be Rimane.

[1798] Rieti.

[1799] He flourished about 216 years before the Christian era.

[1800] Gosselin calls our attention to the difference between Strabo’s relation of these occurrences, and the events as commonly recounted by the Greek and Latin authors.

[1801] Near the spot now called Paterno.

[1802] Cluvier placed the ancient Alba on the east shore of Lake Albano, about Palazzuolo. Holstenius thinks that it was on the southern shore, in the locality of Villa-Domitiana. The Abbé de Chaupy places it farther to the east of Monte Albano.

[1803] Monte Albano.

[1804] The sites of these places are much disputed.

[1805] Kramer considers this 40 an interpolation.

[1806] Usually Ambarvalia, sacrifices performed by the Fratres Arvales, who formed “a college or company of twelve in number, and were so called according to Varro, from offering public sacrifices for the fertility of the fields. That they were of extreme antiquity is proved by the legend which refers their institution to Romulus; of whom it is said, that when his nurse, Acca Laurentia, lost one of her twelve sons, he allowed himself to be adopted by her in his place, and called himself and the remaining eleven—Fratres Arvales. (Gell. vi. 7.) We also find a college called the Sodales Titii, and as the latter were confessedly of Sabine origin, and instituted for the purpose of keeping up the Sabine religious rites, (Tac. Ann. i. 53,) there is some reason for the supposition of Niebuhr, that these colleges corresponded one to the other—the Fratres Arvales being connected with the Latin, and the Sodales Titii with the Sabine element of the Roman state; just as there were two colleges of the Luperci, the Fabii and the Quinctilii, the former of whom seem to have belonged to the Sabines.

The office of the Fratres Arvales was for life, and was not taken away even from an exile or captive. They wore, as a badge of office, a chaplet of ears of corn fastened on their heads with a white band. The number given on inscriptions varies, but it is never more than nine; though, according to the legend and general belief, it amounted to twelve. One of their annual duties was to celebrate a three days’ festival in honour of Dea Dia, supposed to be Ceres.... Of this the master of the college, appointed annually, gave public notice from the temple of Concord on the Capitol. On the first and last of these days, the college met at the house of their president, to make offerings to the Dea Dia; on the second day they assembled in the grove of the same goddess, about five miles south of Rome, and there offered sacrifices for the fertility of the earth. An account of the different ceremonies of this festival is preserved in an inscription, which was written in the first year of the emperor Heliogabalus, (A. D. 218,) who was elected a member of the college under the name of M. Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix. The same inscription contains a hymn, which appears to have been sung at the festival from the most ancient times.

Besides this festival of the Dea Dia, the Fratres Arvales were required on various occasions under the emperors to make vows and offer up thanksgivings, an enumeration of which is given in Porcellini. Strabo indeed informs us that, in the reign of Tiberius, these priests performed sacrifices called the _Ambarvalia_ at various places on the borders of the Ager Romanus, or original territory of Rome; and amongst others, at Festi. There is no boldness in supposing that this was a custom handed down from time immemorial; and, moreover, that it was a duty of this priesthood to invoke a blessing upon the whole territory of Rome. It is proved by inscriptions that this college existed till the reign of the emperor Gordian, or A. D. 325, and it is probable that it was not abolished till A. D. 400, together with the other colleges of the pagan priesthoods.

The private Ambarvalia were certainly of a different nature to those mentioned by Strabo, and were so called from the victim _hostia Ambarvalis_ that was slain on the occasion, being led three times round the corn-fields, before the sickle was put to the corn. This victim was accompanied by a crowd of merry-makers, (_chorus et socii_,) the reapers and farm-servants, dancing and singing, as they marched along, the praises of Ceres, and praying for her favour and presence while they offered her the libations of milk, honey, and wine. (Virg. _Georg._ i. 338.) This ceremony was also called a _lustratio_, (Virg. _Ecl._ v. 83,) or purification; and for a beautiful description of the holiday, and the prayers and vows made on the occasion, the reader is referred to Tibullus (ii. 1). It is perhaps worth while to remark that Polybius (iv. 21, § 9) uses language almost applicable to the Roman Ambarvalia in speaking of the Mantineians, who, he says, (specifying the occasion,) made a purification, and carried victims round the city and all the country.

There is, however, a still greater resemblance to the rites we have been describing, in the ceremonies of the Rogation or gang-week of the Latin church. These consisted of processions through the fields, accompanied with prayers (_rogationes_) for a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and were continued during three days in Whitsun-week. The custom was abolished at the Reformation in consequence of its abuses, and the perambulation of the parish boundaries substituted in its place. (_Vide_ Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 61, 2; Wheatley, Com. Pray. v. 20. Bohn’s Standard Library edition.)

[1807] The Camenæ, says Dr. Smith, were prophetic nymphs, and belonged to the religion of ancient Italy, although later traditions represent them as having been introduced into Italy from Arcadia. Two of the Camenæ were Antevorta and Postvorta; the third was Carmenta or Carmentis, a prophetic and healing divinity, who had a temple at the foot of the Capitoline hill, and altars near the Porta Carmentalis. The traditions which assigned a Greek origin to her worship at Rome, state that her original name was Nicostrata, and that she was called Carmentis fron her prophetic powers. (Serv. _ad Æn._ viii. 51, 336; Dionys. i. 15, 32.) According to these traditions, she was the mother of Evander, the Arcadian, by Hermes, and after having endeavoured to persuade her son to kill Hermes, she fled with him to Italy, where she gave oracles to the people and to Hercules. She was put to death by her son at the age of 110 years, and then obtained divine honours. Dionys. i. 31, &c.

[1808] This name is written in Strabo sometimes Αἴκοι, sometimes Αἴκουοι; the Latin writers also named them differently, Æqui, Æcani, Æquicoli, &c.

[1809] Privernates of Pliny; the chief city is now called Piperno.

[1810] 604 years B. C.

[1811] Suessa surnamed Pometia, to distinguish it from Suessa Aurunca, is here alluded to. Its exact position does not appear to be known.

[1812] La Riccia.

[1813] Capo d’ Anzo.

[1814] Monte Dragone.

[1815] Monte Circello.

[1816] According to Cluvier, Strabo was mistaken in making Latium extend to the country of the Peligni, as these latter were always separated from Latium by the Marsi.

[1817] Sezza.

[1818] The vine to which the term arbustive or hautain is applied, which the French translators explain as a vine trained from the foot of a tree.

[1819] Castor and Pollux.

[1820] Near Paterno.

[1821] Storas, the Astura of Pliny.

[1822] Libs.

[1823] _Hodie_, the Porto di Paula, connected with the Lake of S. Maria.

[1824] This does not appear to be in accordance with the statement of Dionysius Halicarnassius and Pliny, that the Ausonians anciently possessed the whole coast, from the Strait of Messina to the entrance of the Adriatic.

[1825] Or mountainous.

[1826] We should doubtless here read the Ufens, the modern Ufente.

[1827] Βρεντέσιον, now Brindes.

[1828] Mola di Gaëta.

[1829] The ruins of this town are extant on either bank of the Garigliano, the ancient Liris.

[1830] Rocca di Monte Dragone.

[1831] Compare Horace, Satir. l. i. sat. 5.

[1832] Tarracina and Formiæ.

[1833] Gaëta.

[1834] At Sperlunga.

[1835] The Garigliano.

[1836] Vestini, MSS.

[1837] Ponza.

[1838] Sezza. The French translators think this should be Vescia.

[1839] Albano.

[1840] Called also the Quirinal, and often Salara, according to Ovid.

[1841] Anio.

[1842] The Nar.

[1843] The Teneas of Strabo.

[1844] ὁ Κλάνις, there were other rivers called Clanis as well as this.

[1845] Chiusi.

[1846] Suetonius likewise mentions this fact. Dion Cassius informs us that Augustus, in the year of Rome 732, and twenty-two years before our era, commanded that the curule ædiles should promptly endeavour to arrest the progress of conflagrations, and for this purpose placed at their disposal 600 guards. Fifteen years afterwards he established a company of seven freedmen, presided over by one of the equestrian order, to see what means could be taken in order to prevent these numerous fires. Augustus, however, was not the first to take precautions of this nature, as we may learn from Livy, l. ix. § 46; l. xxxix. § 14; Tacit. Annal. l. xv. § 43, and various other authorities.

[1847] Subsequent emperors reduced this standard still lower. See what Tacitus says of Nero in regard to this point, Annal. l. xv. § 43. Trajan forbade that any house should be constructed above 60 feet in height. Sextus Aurelius Victor, Epit. § 27.

[1848] There were five modes of playing at ball; 1. Throwing it up and catching it; 2. Foot-ball; 3. A throwing of the ball from one to another in a large party of players; 4. A dashing of the ball to the ground with force enough to rebound, when it was struck down again with the palm of the hand, and a reckoning was kept of the number of times the feat was repeated; and 5. A ball thrown among the players, who all endeavoured to obtain possession of it; this was a game of which we have no accurate account, it was called ἁρπαστὸν, and Galen speaks of it, περὶ μικρᾶς σφαίρας, c. 2, p. 902.

[1849] Coray proposes to read δίσκῳ, at quoits.

[1850] The tomb of Augustus.

[1851] θῆκαι, urns, Greek.

[1852] The Campus Martius.

[1853] The modern Capua.

[1854] S. Maria di Capoa.

[1855] Tuscolo.

[1856] L’Osteria dell’ Aglio.

[1857] Ferentino, near to Vitorchiano.

[1858] Frusinone.

[1859] Falvaterra.

[1860] Trerus.

[1861] Aquino.

[1862] Melpis.

[1863] Teano.

[1864] Calvi.

[1865] Nova Capua.

[1866] Sezza.

[1867] Segni.

[1868] πρὸ δὲ ταύτης. It seems doubtful whether ταύτης refers to Signia, or the Via Appia.

[1869] This city was sacked by the last Tarquin.

[1870] Core.

[1871] Probably Torre Petrara.

[1872] Kramer supposes this name to be an interpolation; the idea of Cluvier, adopted by Siebenkees and Coray, is that we should here read Σουέσσα τῶν Πωμεντίνων, Suessa Pometia.

[1873] Velletri.

[1874] Alatri.

[1875] Ceperano.

[1876] 125, B. C.

[1877] Now called l’Osteria del Pantano, situated very near the Castel dell’ Osa, and close by the lake Pantan de’ Griffi.

[1878] Palestrina.

[1879] Anagni.

[1880] Cerretano.

[1881] Liris.

[1882] Venafro.

[1883] Vulturnus.

[1884] Capua.

[1885] Castel di Volturno.

[1886] Isernia.

[1887] Allife.

[1888] 90 years B. C.

[1889] Tivoli.

[1890] The modern Pentima is supposed to occupy the site where the citadel of Corfinium stood, and the church of S. Pelino, about three miles from Popoli, stands on that of the ancient city of Corfinium.

[1891] We read with all MSS. and editions, Valeria, but Kramer, following the conjectures of Cluvier and others, has adopted Varia in his text.

[1892] Carsoli.

[1893] Albi.

[1894] Groskurd considers this to be Cucullo, alias Scutolo.

[1895] Il Tuscolo, above the modern town of Frascati.

[1896] The classic Anio.

[1897] The waters from the sulphur-lake; named the Solfatara di Tivoli.

[1898] Now the Lago di S. Giovanni, _or_ Bagni di Grotta Marozza.

[1899] Prob. Cretona, not Monte Rotondo.

[1900] The younger Marius being entirely defeated by Sulla in the decisive battle fought near Sacriportus, B. C. 82, Marius threw himself into Præneste, where he had deposited the treasures of the Capitoline temple. (Pliny H. N. l. xxxiii. s. 5.) Sulla left Lucretius Opella to prosecute the siege while he hastened on to Rome. Various efforts were made to relieve Præneste, but they all failed; and after Sulla’s great victory at the Colline gate of Rome, in which Pontius Telesinus was defeated and slain, Marius despaired of holding out any longer, and in company with the brother of Telesinus attempted to escape by a subterraneous passage, which led from the town into the open country; but finding that their flight was discovered, they put an end to one another’s lives. According to other accounts, Marius killed himself, or was killed by his slave at his own request. Marius perished in the year of his consulship. Smith, Dict. Biogr. and Myth.

[1901] The Abbé Chaupy is inclined to think that this was a name given to the part nearest the source of the river which Strabo, § 9, calls the Trerus, but Kramer thinks it was originally written ὁ Τρῆρος, and corrupted by the copyists.

[1902] Monte Cavo.

[1903] We have translated literally ἔχει δ’ ὅμως ἐρυμνὴν ἄκραν, but it is possible that Strabo may have meant that the citadel was built on a height above the town; if so the citadel would occupy the site of la Riccia.

[1904] Civita Lavinia, or, Città della Vigna.

[1905] Or Grove of Diana.

[1906] Nemus Ariciæ.

[1907] The text here appears to be mutilated.

[1908] Monte Cavo.

[1909] The Lago d’ Albano.

[1910] Alba Fucensis is here intended: _hod._ Albi.

[1911] The Judicello.

[1912] Catania, in Sicily.

[1913] See Pliny in reference to the Aqua Marcia, Hist. Nat. l. xxxi. § 24, also l. ii. § 106.

[1914] It served successively as a place of confinement for the kings Syphax, Perseus, and Bituitus.

[1915] Cisalpine Gaul.

[1916] Rimini.

[1917] The Fiumesino.

[1918] Giulia Nova.

[1919] Osimo.

[1920] S. Severino.

[1921] Probably for Pollentia, on the Chiento, opposite Urbisaglia.

[1922] Ruins, on the river Potenza, near to Porto di Recanati.

[1923] Fermo.

[1924] Porto di Fermo.

[1925] Near to the river Monecchia, not far from Marano.

[1926] Truentum.

[1927] The position of this city is still disputed, it has been identified with Porto d’ Ascoli, Torre di Seguro, and other places.

[1928] Giulia Nova.

[1929] Matrinus.

[1930] Atri.

[1931] Ascoli.

[1932] The text is here defective.

[1933] The Vestini appear to have occupied the region where at present Aquila, Ofena, Civita Aquana, Civita di Penna, Civita di St. Angelo, and Pescara are situated.

[1934] They inhabited the canton in which are built Tagliacozzo, Scurcola, Albi, Celano, Pescina, and the environs of Lake Celano.

[1935] Inhabited the territories of Sulmona, Pentima, and Popolo.

[1936] Occupied the district of Tieti or Chieti.

[1937] Inhabited the right bank of the Sangro, the territory of Guasto, the banks of the Trigno and Biferno, the district of Larino, the left bank of the Fortore, and extended north-west towards Pescara.

[1938] 91 B. C.

[1939] Pentima near Popoli.

[1940] The first consuls were Q. Pompædius Silo, and C. Aponius Mutilus; the prætors were Herius Asinius for the Marucini, C. Veltius Cato for the Marsi, M. Lamponius and T. Cleptius for the Leucani, Marius Egnatius Trebatius and Pontius Telesinus for the Samnites, C. Judacilius for the Apuli or Picentini, and A. Cluentius for the Peligni. Many other officers besides these distinguished themselves in the several campaigns of the Marsian war.

[1941] A note in the French translation would make the duration of the Marsian war twelve years.

[1942] Diodorus Siculus agrees with Strabo, in asserting that this war was called Marsian, because it had been commenced by the Marsi, Ὠνομάσθαι δέ φησι Μαρσικὸν [i. e. πόλεμον] ἐκ τῶν ἀρξάντων τῆς ἀποστάσεως, however, Velleius Paterculus asserts that the people of Asculum commenced the war, which was continued by the Marsi; and Livy (Epit. lib. lxxii.) makes the Picentini the first to raise the standard of revolt.

[1943] Quintus Pompædius Silo.

[1944] _Now_ Sulmona, about seven miles south-east of Corfinium. It was the birth-place of Ovid.

Sulmo mihi patria est gelidis uberrimus undis.

_Ovid. Trist._ iv. El. 9.

[1945]

Marruvium, veteris celebratum nomine Marri,
Urbibus est illis caput.

_Sil. Ital._ viii. 507.

We must place this city, with Holstenius, at San Benedetto, on the eastern shore of the lake, where inscriptions have been found which leave no doubt on the subject. The coins of Marruvium have MARUB on the reverse and a head of Pluto.

[1946] Now Chieti, on the right bank of the Pescara. The family of Asinius Pollio came originally from this place.

[1947] Pescara.

[1948] Ortona-a-Mare.

[1949] Romanelli, (tom. iii. p. 40,) founding his opinion on ancient ecclesiastical records and the reports of local antiquaries, informs us that the ruins of Buca exist at the present Penna.

[1950] According to Holstenius and Romanelli, Civitate; according to others, Ponte Rotto.

[1951] Kramer is of opinion that this passage, from “Ortonium” to “life,” is an interpolation posterior to the age of Strabo.

[1952] Romanelli affirms that the mountain from which the river Alaro flows is called Sagra, and Cramer considers that river to be the ancient Sagrus.

[1953] The Daunii formed only a portion of the Apuli.

[1954] We have followed Kramer’s reading, τετρακοσίων ἐνενήκοντα.

[1955] The ruins of Monte Dragone.

[1956] Punta di Miseno.

[1957] The bay of Naples.

[1958] Punta della Campanella.

[1959] This passage is not found in the works of Polybius, as handed down to us.

[1960] Sorrento.

[1961] Torre di Patria.

[1962] Liternus.

[1963] Vulturnum.

[1964] Venafro.

[1965] Κύμη. The Greeks gave a singular form to this name of the ancient seat of the Sibyl. Her chamber, which was hewn out of the solid rock, was destroyed when the fortress of Cumæ was besieged by Narses, who undermined it.

[1966] Eusebius states that it was founded 1050 B. C., a few years before the great migration of the Ionians into Asia Minor.

[1967] We may observe that Strabo seems not to have restricted the Φλέγραιον πέδιον to that which modern geographers term the Phlegræan plains, which are contained between Cumæ and the hills bordering the Lake Agnano, a little beyond Pozzuolo, but, like Pliny, to have extended it to the whole region, at present termed Terra di Lavoro.

[1968] A note in the French translation observes, that Diodorus Siculus (lib. xii. § 76) places this event in the fourth year of the 89th Olympiad, 421 B. C. Livy (lib. iv. § 44) seems to place it a year later.

[1969] It is now called Pineta di Castel Volturno.

[1970] Forty years B. C.

[1971] Punta di Miseno.

[1972] Lago di Fusaro.

[1973] Lago Lucrino. This lake has almost disappeared, owing to a subterraneous eruption, which in 1538 displaced the water and raised the hill called Monte Nuovo.

[1974] Lago d’ Averno.

[1975] νέκυια, the title of the 11th book of the Odyssey.

[1976] νεκυομαντεῖον, another title of the same (11th) book.

[1977] Strabo is not the only one who mentions this: Virgil says,

“Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu,
Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro, nemorumque tenebris;
Quam super haud ullæ poterant impune volantes
Tendere iter pennis; talis sese halitus atris
Faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat;
Unde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Avernum.”

Æneid. vi. 237.

[1978] The Greeks applied the term Plutonian to places where disagreeable and pestilential exhalations arose.

[1979]

“Nor ever does the light-giving Sun shine upon them.”

_Odys._ xi. 15.

[1980] The text here appears to have been corrupted.

[1981] We agree with Kramer in considering as an interpolation the words, τε καὶ ἐπὶ Νέαν πόλιν ἐκ Δικαιαρχίας ἐπὶ ταῖς Βαΐαις, _and likewise another at Neapolis from Dicæarchia to Baiæ_. It is generally supposed that the Grotta di Pausilipo, or Crypta Neapolitana, is of much greater antiquity than the Augustan age, when Cocceius flourished. There is good reason to refer that great undertaking to the Cumæi, of whose skill in works of this nature we have so remarkable an instance in the temple of their sibyl.

[1982] Dion Cassius tells us, on the contrary, that owing to the exertions of Agrippa, the gulfs both of Avernus and Lucrinus became excellent ports, λιμένας ναυλοχωτάτους ἀπέδειξεν.

[1983] Pozzuoli.

[1984] La Solfa-terra.

[1985] Naples.

[1986] Innumerable accounts exist relative to the foundation of this city. The most prevalent fiction was that the siren Parthenope was cast upon its shores, and from her it derived the name, by which it was usually designated by the ancient poets.

Sirenum dedit una suum memorabile nomen
Parthenope muris Acheloïas: æquore cujus
Regnavere diu cantus, quum dulce per undas
Exitium miseris caneret non prospera nautis.

_Sil. Ital._ xii. 33.

Scymnus of Chios mentions both the Phocæi and Cumæi as its founders. Stephanus of Byzantium attributes its foundation to the Rhodians; their proximity is favourable to the claims of the Cumæi, and hence the connexion of Naples with Eubœa, alluded to by Statius, who was born there.

At te nascentem gremio mea prima recepit
Parthenope, dulcisque solo tu gloria nostro
Reptasti; nitidum consurgat ad æthera tellus
Eubois, et pulchra tumeat Sebethos alumna.

_Silv._ i. 2.

A Greek inscription mentions a hero named Eumelus as having had divine honours paid to him, possibly as founder of the city. [See Capaccio, Hist. Nap. p. 105. Martorelli de’ Fenici primi abitatori di Napoli.] This may illustrate the following lines,—

Di patrii, quos auguriis super æquora magnis
Littus ad Ausonium devexit Abantia classis,
Tu ductor populi longe emigrantis Apollo,
Cujus adhuc volucrem leva cervice sedentem
Respiciens blande felix Eumelis adorat.

_Silv._ iv. 8, 45.

[1987] Probably those mentioned in a fragment of Timæus, quoted by Tzetzes, (ad Lycophr. v. 732-737,) as having migrated to Italy under the command of Diotimus, who also instituted the λαμπαδηφορία, which was still observed at Naples in the time of Statius:

Tuque Actæa Ceres, cursu cui semper anhelo
Votivam taciti quassamus lampada mystæ.

_Silv._ iv. 8, 50.

[1988] Neapolis, or Naples, signifying the new city.

[1989] Places of exercise for youth.

[1990] Societies.

[1991] Grotta di Pausilipo.

[1992] Pausilypus mons was the name of the ridge of hills which separates the bay of Naples from that of Pozzuoli. This was probably given to it on account of its delightful situation and aspect, which rendered it the favourite residence of several noble and wealthy Romans.

[1993] Puteoli.

[1994] Seneca, in describing the Crypta Neapolitana, as it was then called, gives an exaggerated account of the sombre horrors of the place. Perhaps in his time the apertures had become obstructed, which was evidently not the case at the time when Strabo, or the authority whom he follows, visited the place.

[1995] Hercolano, or Herculaneum, by Cicero (to Atticus, vii. 3) called Herculanum. It is probable that the subversion of this town was not sudden, but progressive, since Seneca mentions a partial demolition which it sustained from an earthquake. (_Nat. Quæst._ vi. 1.) So many books have been written on the antiquities and works of art discovered in Herculaneum, that the subject need not be enlarged upon here.

[1996] Several inscriptions in Oscan, and Etruscan, characters have been discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum. Lanzi, (tom. iii.,)—Romanelli Viaggio a Pompei ed Ercolano.

[1997] Pompeii.

[1998] The ancient Sarnus.

[1999] These Pelasgi were established among the Tyrrhenians.

[2000] It is believed that the Samnites possessed both places, 310, B. C.

[2001] The Romans must have been masters of these cities 272, B. C. (Livy, Epit. xiv.)

[2002] Nola resisted, under the able direction of Marcellus, all the efforts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ. A remarkable inscription in Oscan characters relative to this town is explained by Lanzi, (tom. iii. 612,) its name is there written NUFLA. See Cramer’s Ancient Italy, vol. ii. p. 211.

[2003] Nocera de’ Pagani.

[2004] Sorrento.

[2005] Punta della Campanella.

[2006] The Sirenusæ were three small rocks detached from the land, and celebrated as the islands of the Sirens; they are now called Galli. See Holsten. Adnot. p. 248; Romanelli, tom. iii. p. 619. Virgil, Æn. v. 864, describes them as,

Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat;
Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus albos.

It had been decreed that the Sirens should live only till some one hearing their song should pass on unmoved, and Orpheus, who accompanied the Argonauts, having surpassed the Sirens, and led on the ship, they cast themselves into the sea, and were metamorphosed into these rocks.

[2007] The bay of Naples.

[2008] Punta di Miseno.

[2009] Procida.

[2010] Ischia.

[2011] It appears that Hiero the First is here alluded to; he ascended the throne 478 years before the Christian era.

[2012] The volcanos of Sicily, Lipari, Pithecussæ, _or_ Ischia, and Mount Vesuvius. See Humboldt (Cosmos i. 238, _note_).

[2013] We, in common with the French translators and Siebenkees, have adopted the νήσους found in the MS. of Peter Bembo, and some others cited by Casaubon.

[2014] Pindar Pyth. Od. i. 32; Conf. Pindar. Olymp. Od. iv. 2.

[2015] This writer flourished about 264 years before the Christian era.

[2016] _Epopeus mons_, now sometimes called Epomeo, but more commonly Monte San Nicolo.

[2017] The waters at the source Olmitello, in the southern part of the island, are the most efficacious for this disease.

[2018] Capri.

[2019] Teano.

[2020] Galazze. We have not hesitated to read Callateria, with all MSS. Kramer has printed Καλατία in text. Numismatic writers ascribe to this, and not the Samnite Calatia, the coins with the head of Jupiter on the obverse, and the legend, KALAT, and KALATI, in retrograde Oscan characters on the reverse. Mionnet. Med. Ant. Suppl. vol. i. p. 232; Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 13.

[2021] S. Maria di Goti, near to Forchia Caudina.

[2022] Benevento.

[2023] Nova Capua.

[2024] Volturno.

[2025] The text has μεδίμνου; but we adopted μυὸς, the word proposed by most of the Greek editors; Valerius Maximus, Pliny, and Frontinus all agreeing in the statement, that it was a rat which fetched this enormous price.

[2026] Calvi.

[2027] Castel di Sessola, near Maddaloni.

[2028] Holstenius says that the ruins of Atella are still to be seen near S. Arpino, _or_ S. Elpidio, about two miles beyond Aversa.

[2029] Now Nola. It was one of the most ancient and important cities of Campania; though situated in an open plain, it resisted all the efforts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ. Here Augustus expired, in the same room in which his father Octavius had breathed his last.

[2030] Nocera.

[2031] Acerra near the source of the Agno, the ancient Clanius.

[2032] Avella Vecchia.

[2033] Such was Nola, which our author in his sixth book evidently places in the territory of the Samnites.

[2034] Bojano.

[2035] Isernia.

[2036] The ruins of Telesia are to be seen about a mile from the modern Telese. Allifæ was between Telesia and Venafrum.

[2037] Benevento.

[2038] Venosa. The coins of Venusia have on the reverse the inscription VE., and an eagle resting on a thunderbolt. On the obverse, a head of Jupiter, and sometimes of Bacchus. Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 15. The Antiquitates Venusinæ and the Iter Venusinum were published at Naples in the last century.

[2039] Casaubon conjectures that in place of the τῷ ἔτει τούτῳ, we should read τῷ ἔαρι τούτῳ, or, the productions of the _spring_: and it certainly would seem that Strabo is here describing what the Latins called a _ver sacrum_. An ancient historian, speaking of the occurrence mentioned by Strabo, says, “Quondam Sabini feruntur vovisse, si res communis melioribus locis constitisset, se _ver sacrum_ facturos.” Sisenn. Hist. lib. iv. ap. Non. Marcell. De doctor. indag. ed. 1683, fol. 2531. Festus, Sext. P. Fest. De verb. sign. F. ed. 1699, p. 478, seems to have mentioned the same thing.

[2040] The animals and fruits are intended.

[2041] Devoted to Mars.

[2042] Or little Sabines.

[2043] From Pitane, a place in Laconia.

[2044] B. C. 216.

[2045] 211 B. C.

[2046] B. C. 59.

[2047] We concur with Kramer in considering that the words μέχρι Φρεντανῶν, which occur immediately after Σαυνῖτιν, have been interpolated.

[2048] The Gulf of Salerno.

[2049] Pesti.

[2050] This city must have been founded nearly 540 years B. C., for Herodotus says that the Phocæans were chiefly induced to settle on the shores of Œnotria by the advice of a citizen of Posidonia, and they founded Velia in the reign of Cyrus. B. i. 164.

[2051] 442 B. C.

[2052] B. C. 274.

[2053] Apparently the Fiume Salso.

[2054] Pesti.

[2055] Vietri.

[2056] Pompeii.

[2057] Nocera.

[2058] The ancient Silaris.

[2059] We are inclined to read Leucania with Du Theil. The Paris manuscript, No. 1393, reads κανίαν.

[2060] Pliny, in his Natural History, (lib. ii. § 106,) has confirmed Strabo’s account. It appears from Cluvier that the people who inhabit the banks of the Silaro are not acquainted with any circumstances which might corroborate the statement. (Cluvier, Ital. Ant. lib. iv. c. 14.)

[2061] About B. C. 201.

[2062] The ancient Silaris.

[2063] Pesti.

[2064] It is now called Licosa, and sometimes Isola piana; several vestiges of buildings were discovered on the island in 1696. Antonin. della Lucan. p. ii. disc. 8.

[2065] Capo della Licosa.

[2066] Punta della Campanella.

[2067] Golfo di Salerno.

[2068] Strabo here cites the historian Antiochus, but it is surprising that he does not rather cite the writer from whom Antiochus seems to have borrowed this account, we mean Herodotus, who relates it (lib. i. § 164). But Strabo, probably, looking upon Herodotus as a collector of fables, chose rather to yield to the authority of Antiochus, who had written very accurate memoirs upon Italy, and who was, likewise, himself a very ancient author, (Dion. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. lib. i. § 12,) and flourished about 420 years before the Christian era.

[2069] Or Velia, founded 532 B. C., mentioned by Horace, Epist. I. xv. 1, “Quæ sit hyems Veliæ, quod cœlum, Vala, Salerni.”

[2070] The modern Alento.

[2071] Now unknown.

[2072] Pliny affirms that these two islands were called, the one Pontia, the other Ischia; “Contra Veliam Pontia et Ischia, utræque uno nomine Œnotrides, argumentum possessæ ab Œnotriis Italiæ.” Hist. Nat. lib. iii. § 13. If this reading be not faulty, Pliny will have placed in the latitude, of which our author is now giving a description, a small island bearing the same name, _Pontia_, as the island lying off Cape Misenum.

[2073] The Buxentum of the Latins.

[2074] 471 years before the Christian era.

[2075] Gulf of Policastro.

[2076] Now the river Laino.

[2077] Called Laino in the time of Cluverius. Lib. iv. cap. 14.

[2078] Upon this coast.

[2079] Founded about the year 510 B. C.

[2080] About the year 390 before the Christian era.

[2081] i. e. the Gulf of Tarentum.

[2082] Strabo seems here to distinguish the Chones from the Œnotri, and the Œnotri from the Greeks. According to Cluvier (Ital. Antiq. cap. 16, p. 1323) here was a double error: “not only (says he) Aristotle, but Antiochus, according to Strabo’s own testimony, positively affirmed that the Chones and Œnotri were one and the same nation, and Dionysius of Halicarnassius (Antiq. Roman. lib. i. § 11) makes no doubt that the Œnotri were of Greek origin.” But Mazochi justifies the distinction between the Chones and the Œnotri, and shows cause to doubt that the Œnotri were of Greek origin.

[2083] ἐκβεβαρβαρῶσθαι. We think with Mazochi (Prodrom. ad Heracl. pseph. diatrib. 2, cap. 7, sect. 2) that, by the above word, Strabo probably expressed that, at the time when he wrote, Tarentum, Rheggio, and Naples were the only cities founded by the Greeks in Italy, which, although become Roman, retained the language, laws, and usages of their mother country.

[2084] It has been well observed by Cramer in his Ancient Italy, that Strabo confused this Petilia of the Leucani with another better known of the Bruttii, the foundation of which was attributed to Philoctetes. It is observed by Antonini that Strabo contradicts himself, by ascribing to Philoctetes the origin of a town in Leucania, for he states a few lines further on that that hero occupied a part of the coast near Crotona, which was in the territory of the Bruttii. Strabo’s account, however, of the existence of a Leucanian Petilia is confirmed by many inscriptions of early date. The ruins of the town remain on the Monte della Stella. Antonin. della Lucan. p. i. disc. 8. Romanelli, tom. i. p. 350.

[2085] According to some judicious antiquaries, the site of Chone is located at Casabuona, near Strongoli.

[2086] Trapani del Monte.

[2087] The ruins of this city, which was anciently called also Egesta, Acesta, and Segesta, may be seen at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara.

[2088] Kramer, following the suggestion of Xylander, has printed Γρουμεντὸν. I am inclined, however, to think that Πουμεντὸν, the reading of Manuscripts, is correct. According to Barrio, it occupied the situation of Gerenza, on the right bank of the Nieto.

[2089] Verzine on the Nieto. (Barr. lib. iv. cap. 18. Maraf. lib. iii. c. 18.)

[2090] Calasarna is supposed by the Calabrian topographers to accord with the site of Campania.

[2091] Venosa, situated about 15 miles south of the Aufidus. It was a colony of importance before the war against Pyrrhus. After the disaster at Cannæ, it afforded a retreat to Varro and the few who escaped that signal overthrow. Horace was born there in the year of the city 688. About six miles from Venosa, on the site named Palazzo, was the Fons Bandusiæ. (Chaupy, Des c. de la maison de Camp. d’Horace, tom. iii. p. 538.)

[2092] Cluvier thought that we should read Θουριανὴ instead of Ταυριανὴ.

[2093] Laos, now Lao.

[2094] Torre di Mare.

[2095] Golfo di S. Eufemia.

[2096] Golfo di Squillace. Scylletium was once a Greek city of note, communicating its name to the gulf. Servius observes that the Athenians who founded the colony were returning from Africa. There was a Greek inscription found in 1791 relative to the Λαμπαδηδρομία, which seems to confirm the tradition of the Athenian origin of Scylletium. It was the birth-place of Cassiodorus.

[2097] Σίλαρις. The Silaro, which, divides Lucania from Campania, takes its rise in the Apennines, in a district which formerly belonged to the Hirpini; and after receiving the Tanager, now Negro, and the Calor, now Calore, falls into the Gulf of Salerno. Silius Italicus (viii. 582) states that this river possessed the property of incrusting twigs with a calcareous deposit:

“Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite tradunt
Duritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis.”

At its mouth was a haven named Portus Albernus.

[2098] Torre di Mare.

[2099] Cirella.

[2100] This measure, upon our charts, is 330 Olympic stadia. Gosselin.

[2101] Golfo di Squillace.

[2102] The Golfo di S. Eufemia.

[2103] ἐξεταραξεν ἅπαντας πρὸς ἅπαντας. Lit. “He stirred up every body against every body.” It is conceived that the hostilities of the Bruttii were fomented by Dion in order to prevent the tyrant Dionysius from deriving any aid from his Leucanian allies. The advancement of the Bruttii to independence is computed by Diodorus Siculus to have taken place about 397 years after the foundation of Rome, that is, 356 before the Christian era.

[2104] The situation of Temesa has not yet been fully determined. Cluverius fixes it about ten miles south of Amantea, near Torre Loppa. Romanelli observes, however, that Cluverius has not allowed for the difference between the ancient and modern computation of distance. To rectify this oversight, he makes choice of Torre del piano del Casale, nearly two miles north of Torre Loppa, as the locality of this ancient site. The silver coins of Temesa are scarce. They have the Greek epigraph, ΤΕΜ.

[2105] After the second Punic war it was colonized by the Romans, who called it Tempsa, B. C. 195.

[2106] We concur with Kramer in approving the proposition of Groskurd to understand the words ἐκεῖνον μὲν οὖν διὰ πολλοῦ as having been originally written in the text immediately before ἐπικεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς.

[2107] They had been compelled to sacrifice a virgin annually in order to appease his disturbed spirit.

[2108] Borgo di Tamasso.

[2109] These words in parenthesis seem to have been interpolated by the transcribers of our author. Both Temesa and Tamassus were rich in metal, but the spelling of the name in Homer is more in accordance with Temesa than Tamassus, and other poets have alluded to it, as Ovid. Met. xv. 706,

“Evincitque fretum, Siculique angusta Pelori,
Hippotadæque domos regis, Temesesque metalla.”

And Fast. v. 441,

“... Temesæaque concrepat æra.”

And Statius, Silv. i. 42,

“Et cui se toties Temese dedit hausta metallis.”

[2110] Odyssey i. 184.

[2111] Nocera.

[2112] Hannibal took refuge in Calabria about 209 years before the Christian era.

[2113] Cosenza, near the source of the Crathis, now Crati, represents Cosentia. It was taken by Hannibal after the surrender of Petilia, but towards the end of the war the Romans regained it.

[2114]

Αἰακίδη, προφύλαξο μολεῖν Ἀχερούσιον ὕδωρ
Πανδοσίην θ’, ὅθι τοι θάνατος πεπρωμένος ἐστί.

Son of Æacus, beware of approaching the Acherusian water and Pandosia, where death is destined for thee.

[2115] About B. C. 330.

[2116] Commentators generally agree that this is the Pandosia memorable for the defeat and death of Alexander, king of Epirus. The early Calabrian antiquaries have placed it at Castel Franco. D’Anville, in his map, lays it down near Lao and Cirella. Modern investigators have sought its ruins near Mendocino, between Cosenza and the sea, a hill with three summits having been remarked there, which answers to the fatal height pointed out by the oracle,

Πανδοσία τρικόλωνε, πολύν ποτε λαὸν ὀλέσσεις·

together with a rivulet, Maresanto or Arconti; which last name recalls the Acheron denounced by another prediction, as so inauspicious to the Molossian king. Scylax, in his Periplus, seems to place Pandosia, together with Clampetia and Terina, near the western coast.

[2117] Afterwards Vibo Valentia, now Monte-Leone.

[2118] Surnamed the Epizephyrii. Heyne supposes this took place B. C. 388.

[2119] B. C. 193.

[2120] There was a temple erected to Proserpine in these meadows, and a building called “Amalthæa’s horn,” raised by Gelon of Syracuse.

[2121] The present harbour of Bivona.

[2122] He reigned from B. C. 317 to B. C. 289.

[2123] Now Le Formicole. The promontory named Capo Vaticano seems to have been anciently known under the same appellation.

[2124] Medma, or Mesma, was situated on the right bank of the river Mesima, which seems to retain traces of the name of the ancient city. Antiquaries report that its ruins are seen between Nicotera and the river Mesima. The epigraph on the coins of this city is generally ΜΕΣΜΑ, or ΜΕΣΜΑΙΩΝ, and in a single instance ΜΕΔΑΜΑ.

[2125] That is, the Epizephyrian Locrians.

[2126] Cluverius considers this to be the modern Bagnara.

[2127] The ancient river Metaurus is now also called Marro, and sometimes Petrace. It was noted for the excellence of the thunny fish caught at its mouth.

[2128] Metaurum. The site of this place is supposed to accord with that of the town of Gioja.

[2129] Homer, Odyssey, lib. x.

[2130] There have been many suggestions for the correction of this passage. Kramer thinks that Cluverius was happy in proposing Ποταμὸς instead of Μέταυρος, and that then the Cratais, now Solano, or Fiume de’ Pesci, would be the river which Strabo intended.

[2131] According to Pliny, these two promontories were separated by an interval of twelve stadia, or a mile and a half, which accords with the statement of Polybius. Thucydides, however, allows about two miles and a half, which he considers to be the utmost possible distance. Topographers are divided as to the exact point of the Italian coast which answers to Cape Cænys. The Calabrian geographers say the Punta del Pezzo, called also Coda del Volpe, in which opinion Cluverius and D’Anville coincide, but Holstenius contends for the Torre del Cavallo, which the French translators seem to favour. In fact, that may be the narrowest point, still it does not answer so well to Strabo’s description of the figure and bearing of Cape Cænys as the Punta del Pezzo.

[2132] The temple or altar of Neptune.

[2133] The Columna Rhegina, as remarked by Cramer, (vol. ii. p. 427,) was probably a pillar set up to mark the consular road leading to the south of Italy. Strabo speaks of it as a small tower (book iii. c. v. § 5, p. 265). In the Itinerary of Antoninus it is simply termed Columna, but in the inscription relative to the Via Aquilia, it is called Statua. The situation of this tower is generally identified with the site of La Catona.

[2134] Now Reggio, one of the most celebrated and flourishing cities of Magna Grecia, founded about 696 years B. C. Cato affirms that it was once in the possession of the Aurunci. The connexion which subsisted between Rhegium and the Chalcidian colonies in Sicily, induced its inhabitants to take part with the Athenians in their first hostilities against the Syracusans and Locrians. In the great Sicilian expedition, the Rhegians observed a strict neutrality. While the Athenian fleet was moored in their roads, they refused to admit the army within their walls, which therefore encamped near the temple of Diana outside the town. Rhegium subsequently pursued a similar policy, and suffered severely under tyrants, but the Roman senate at length freed the unfortunate citizens.

[2135] Strabo here alludes to the crime which was perpetrated in the reign of Teleclus, about 811 years before the Christian era. The division of the Messenians into two parties, the one wishing and the other refusing to give satisfaction, lasted about 150 years. See book vi. cap. iii. § 3.

[2136] It was taken by the Lacedæmonians about B. C. 668.

[2137] It seems probable that Strabo here refers to Morgantium in Sicily, which had disappeared in his days, and which he mentions in b. vi. c. 11. § 4.

[2138] Sextus Pompeius, having received from the senate the command of the fleet, B. C. 43, in a short time made himself master of Sicily, which he held till 36.

[2139] This is a quotation from one of the missing works of Æschylus.

[2140] Virgil speaks of this great catastrophe, Æn. iii. 414,

“Hæc loca, vi quondam et vasta convulsa ruina
(Tantum ævi longinqua valet mutare vetustas,)
Dissiluisse ferunt: cum protinus utraque tellus
Una foret, venit medio vi pontus, et undis
Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit: arvaque et urbes
Litore diductas angusto interluit æstu.”

[2141] Procida.

[2142] It appears from the more ancient coins of Rhegium, that the original name was RECION. In these the epigraph is REC. RECI. RECINOS, in characters partaking more of the Oscan than the Greek form; those of more recent date are decidedly Greek, ΡΗΓ. ΡΗΓΙΝΩΝ, being inscribed on them. A note in the French translation shows that the inhabitants of Rhegium did not participate in the rights of Roman citizens till about 90 years before the Christian era.

[2143] Among these were many followers of Pythagoras, also Theagenes, Hippys, Lycus surnamed Butera, and Glaucus, who were historians; Ibycus, Cleomenes, and Lycus the adoptive father of Lycophron, who were poets; Clearchus and Pythagoras, who were sculptors.

[2144] The Rhegians firmly opposed the designs of this tyrant; and when, under pretence of courting their alliance, he sought a consort from their city, they replied with independent feeling that he might have their hangman’s daughter. (See Diodorus Siculus, xiv. 44.) Had the other states of Magna Grecia displayed the same energy, the ambitious views of this artful prince might have been frustrated; but after the defeat of their forces on the Elleporus, now Callipari, they succumbed, and Rhegium, after a gallant defence which lasted nearly a year, was compelled to yield, about the year 398 B. C. The insulting tyrant sentenced the heroic Phyton, who had commanded the town, to a cruel death, and removed the few inhabitants that remained to Sicily.

[2145] B. C. 360.

[2146] B. C. 280.

[2147] B. C. 91.

[2148] The defeat of Sextus Pompeius is referred to the year 36 B. C., but there is no precise date mentioned for the establishment of the veteran soldiers in Rhegium, which probably took place about the year 31 B. C.

[2149] Pliny computes the distance from Rhegium to Cape Leucopetra at 12 miles; there is probably some error in the text, as there is no cape which corresponds with the distance of 50 stadia from Rhegium. A note in the French translation proposes to read 100 instead of 50 stadia. Topographers are not agreed in fixing the situation of the celebrated Leucopetra. D’Anville places it at Capo Pittaro, Grimaldi at the Punta della Saetta, and Cluverius, Holstenius, and Cellarius at the Capo dell’Armi. This latter opinion seems more compatible with the statement of Pliny, and is also more generally accredited.

[2150] The Herculeum Promontorium is known in modern geography as Capo Spartivento.

[2151] The Promontorium Iapygium, or Sallentinum, as it was sometimes called, formed a remarkable feature in the figure of Italy, while the art of navigation was in its infancy. It was a conspicuous landmark to mariners bound from the ports of Greece to Sicily. The fleets of Athens, after having circumnavigated the Peloponnesus, usually made for Corcyra, whence they steered straight across to the promontory, and then coasted along the south of Italy. It seems from Thucydides (vi. 44) that there was a haven here which afforded a shelter to vessels in tempestuous weather.

[2152] Now Capo di Bruzzano.

[2153] The one 710, the other 734 years B. C.

[2154] The opinion of Ephorus seems to be supported by many other writers, and is generally preferred by modern critics.

[2155] Monte Esope.

[2156] This wicked prince, having been expelled from Syracuse, had found refuge among the Locrians from the storm which threatened his existence; but, depraved as he was degraded, he repaid the kindness of the people, who treated him as their kinsman because his mother Doris had been the daughter of one of their principal citizens, with the basest treachery and ingratitude. He introduced into their city a number of miscreants, and having overpowered the inhabitants, gave loose to all the vicious propensities of his nature.

[2157] Horrid as is the vengeance which the Locri took on these unfortunate victims of a husband’s and a father’s crimes, it serves to confirm the accounts of the iniquity and barbarity of a prince, whose mean and imbecile conduct at other times sanctions the notion that his intellect was disordered.

[2158] We could almost wish to read this passage—“rendered them more plausible, but impaired their utility.”

[2159] The ancient Halex.

[2160] Although Strabo ascribes Mamertium to the Bruttii, it is more probable that it was a colony of Campanian mercenaries, deriving their name from Mamers, the Oscan Mars, who served under Agathocles, and other princes of Sicily. The Mamertini were employed by the Romans against Pyrrhus, whom they attacked in the woods and defiles about Rhegium. Barrio (lib. ii. c. 10) and Maraf. (lib. iii. c. 25, f. 222) have identified the site of this ancient town with Martorano, but it seems too distant from Locri and Rhegium to accord with Strabo’s description. Cluverius, D’Anville, and Romanelli place it at Oppido, a bishop’s see above Reggio, and Gerace, where old coins are said to have been discovered. Cramer (vol. ii. p. 439) thinks that the Melæ mentioned by Thucydides may have been identical with Mamertium. Several remains of antiquity exist on the site called Mela, in the vicinity of Oppido.

[2161] The pix Bruttia is noticed by Pliny, Columella, Dioscorides, and other authorities mentioned by Bochart, Canaan, p. 595. Bochart looks upon the Bruttii as a people known to the Phœnicians at a very remote period.

[2162] Geographers differ much as to the modern river which corresponds to this stream. Romanelli and Swinburne consider it to be the Alaro.

[2163] During the war against Pyrrhus, whose cause was espoused by Caulonia, the city was pillaged by the Mamertini, the allies of the Romans. The town was subsequently occupied by the Bruttii, who defended it against the Romans in the second Punic war. Barrio and other Calabrian topographers have fixed its site at Castro Vetere, but Strabo placed it on the left bank of the Sagras, which is inconsistent with their supposition, and it is still a subject of inquiry.

[2164] Cluvier (Sicil. ant. lib. ii.) reckons this place was situated between Caltanis and Pietrapreccia.

[2165] Now Squillace.

[2166] Servius observes that these Athenians were returning from Africa, Serv. Æn. iii. 552.

[2167] Saumaise (Exercit. Plin. p. 47, 57) thinks the true reading should be Scylaceium, or Virgil could not have made the penultimate long.

... Attollit se diva Lacinia contra
Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylaceum. Æn. iii. 652.

[2168] About B. C. 389.

[2169] Book vi. cap. i. § 4.

[2170] Pliny seems to attribute to Dionysius the elder the project of cutting not walling off the isthmus: “Itaque Dionysius major intercisam eo loco adjicere Siciliæ voluit.” Hist. Nat. lib. iii. § 15. Grimaldi also is of opinion that the circumstance mentioned by Strabo should be referred to the first years of Dionysius the younger, about B. C. 366-359.

[2171] By those who dwelt without, Strabo doubtless intended the Crotoniatæ, and their allies.

[2172] These three capes are now called Capo delle Castella, Capo Rizzuto, and Capo della Nave.

[2173] Lacinium was about six miles from Crotona. The celebrated temple of Juno derived its name from the promontory. According to Diodorus Siculus, some ascribe its origin to Hercules. (Diod. Sic. iv. 24.) Its ruins are in the early Doric style, with fluted pillars broader at the base than at the capital. It measured about 132 yards in length, and 66 in breadth. Its principal entrance opened to the west.

[2174] Gosselin follows the opinion that Polybius wrote 1300 stadia.

[2175] The Strait of Sicily.

[2176] The modern names of Cape Lacinium, viz. Capo delle Colonne and Capo Nao, are derived from the remains of the temple, which is still visible on its summit.

[2177] The text is here evidently deficient. Groskurd says that Strabo most probably wrote as follows, “As the chorographer says, Artemidorus reckons that [the journey would take 12 days for one travelling on foot], with his girdle on; [but, to one sailing, the distance is 2000 stadia:] leaving at the same time as many [for the mouth, as Polybius has given] for the breadth of the mouth of the gulf.” The French translators, however, have attempted to read the text as follows, “The chorographer makes it 240 miles, and Artemidorus says that it is 380 for a light traveller; a computation in which the breadth of the mouth is not included;” but comment on it in several extensive notes.

[2178] South-east.

[2179] The ancient Æsar.

[2180] Groskurd observes, Im Texte καὶ λιμὴν. Besser also, liest man mit _Cluv._ λίμνη, and translates it “a salt-marsh;” but Cramer, in his description of ancient Italy, observes that the mouth of the river Esaro formed a haven, which, however incommodious compared with those of Tarentum and Brundusium, was long a source of great wealth to Crotona, as we are assured by Polybius, Frag. x. 1.

[2181] Neæthus. This river was said to derive its name from the circumstance of the captive Trojan women having there set fire to the Grecian fleet.

[2182] Νέαιθος, from νῆας and αἰθεῖν, “to burn the ships.”